JASPER TX: Singing Stones (Fang Bomb)

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Posted on May 26th 2009 12:44 am

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Jasper TX: Singing Stones

JASPER TX
Singing Stones
FB010
Fang Bomb 2009
09 Tracks. 55mins26secs

Icon: arrow Buy: CD

The prolific Dag Rosenqvist has been progressively developing his particular blend of dense and bleak treated guitar textures and refined the sound of his solo project, Jasper TX over the years. The Swede’s first album, I’ll Be Long Gone Before My Light Reaches You, was released in 2005 on Lampse, and since, Rosenqvist has published a number of records on Lidar, Kning Disk, Miasmah and Slaapwel, refining both his sound and approach with each new tome. The pace of releases has steadily increased in the last couple of years, and while SMGT is currently releasing Rosenqvist’s collaboration with Anduin, Swedish imprint Fang Bomb is bringing out his latest solo sonic excursion.

Following on from his last album, Black Sheep, published on Miasmah, and the Closet Ghosts EP on Fenêtre, Singing Stones sees Rosenqvist return once again to his widescreen cinematic soundscapes build around layers of treated acoustic and electric guitars and gentle electronics. Right from the opening sequence of this record, Stillness, Rosenqvist weaves beautiful textures, dense atmospheric sound waves and discreet field recordings to create a piece with vast emotional scope and great evocative power. But, while there are great sweeping moments as the melody develops almost imperceptibly, it is actually the smaller details that grab the attention. Specs of acoustic guitars get progressively shrouded in a dense sonic cloud while static noises sparkle in the background, and later on, a playful breeze brings another gritty element to the piece. On They’ve Flown Away And Left Us Here, Rosenqvist uses similar effects, but captures the mood in a very different way by leaving a series of chords hanging up in the air and progressively wrapping them in a somewhat discreet cloak of sounds and empty noise, while on Last Boat In and A Box Of Wood In The Storm, which follow, he opens up to more diverse sound sources, playing with white noise and delicate chime-like forms on the former, before venturing into resolutely electro acoustic territory on the first half of the latter.

On Sleeping Rivers and Into The Sea, which come toward the end of the record, Rosenqvist pushes the use of field recordings further by giving them a central role in these two pieces, with the latter doing away with music entirely for almost half of it before a melody is progressively lifted out of the arid textures and layer upon layer of lush guitar work are added. Much earlier on, on This Barren Land, Rosenqvist develops another rather arid composition, but here, it is solely with guitar sounds, stretched and processed, that he achieves this. Indeed, while elsewhere, he creates extremely dense layered formations from numerous recordings of guitar elements, here Rosenqvist chooses to use the same elements, but arrange them into a slow-moving drone which eventually dissolves into sparse blank noises.

Singing Stones signals yet another step forward for Jasper TX, as Rosenqvist expands his already impressively vast sound to incorporate new textures and angles. The album collects stunning organic compositions which, while appearing rather cold, are actually extremely evocative and emotionally charged. Rosenqvist has already been gaining the respect of press and fans alike, and this latest solo effort only confirms that there is undoubtedly more to come from the man.

4.6/5

Icon: arrow Jasper TX | Fang Bomb
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Comments (2)

2 Responses to “JASPER TX: Singing Stones (Fang Bomb)”

  1. Fredoon 26 May 2009 at 12:32 pm

    A wonderful album! But shouldn’t it be 4,6/5 instead of 4,6/7?

  2. themilkmanon 26 May 2009 at 2:05 pm

    Oh yes, it should gave been. Well spotted, thanks, now corrected.

    I really love this album, been playing it a fair bit, more than his previous stuff. I am very interested in hearing the collab with Anduin too